Wrapping Up 2019 So We Can All Move On

I always think this end of the year retrospective should be a quick post, but somehow

it never quite works out quite that way. Oh well. Time for a glimpse of whatever finishes 

managed to come to fruition during the past year! It always surprises me how it stacks

up. Never quite what I imagined somehow!

2019 Finishes (1)

It's been a surprisingly productive year. So many times it felt like I was just sort of spinning my wheels, or at times, chasing after ever single squirrel that popped around the corner. Some of the oldest quilt tops did get checked off the list, but it felt arduous at times. 'I don't wanna' was not an uncommon feeling at the start of some of these quilting/stitching finish-it-up endeavors.

2019 Finishes (2)

A surprising amount of larger quilts were completely hand quilted. Well, maybe not so surprising.as it was a terribly stressful year here on the home front. So happy to see 2020 roll around with the all the possibilities of a fresh new year! When life's troubles start to get extra heavy, I tend to have a habit of ending every evening nose deep in the quilting hoop. Well, right after finishing off the popcorn and catching up on Blogger and Instagram.*wink  Helps me sleep ever so much better, that hand work. Seriously therapeutic. If I didn't have so many hot flashes, I'd probably pile on about six quilts every night when I go to bed. Just bury myself in them. You know, for the good vibes?

2019 Finishes (3)

Lots of baby quilts were made and finished up, plus quite a few little bitty ones. Very fun, fast quilting sessions which felt kind of rewarding. I don't think that would be good for me full time though. The feeling lasts only a little while and then it's gone. Poof! Almost like it never happened.

2019 Finishes (4)

So now it's time for the stats. 23 Total Quilt Completions last year! Woohoo! {If you count the Barbie quilts.} But lets not. Leaving off those smaller, quickie quilting projects, it's really more like 18 for the true total. Not too shabby. And because I like to break things down even further....

• 9 Bed sized quilts finished up
• 5 Lap quilts
• 4 Baby quilts
• 5 Doll, Table Runner or Barbie quilts
• 9 of these quilts were completely hand quilted
• 8 quilts were completely machine quilted
• 5 quilts were a combination of both machine and hand quilting
• 1 quilt was a combination of machine quilting and hand tying

It was a good year. Also a good year for giving quilts away! 20 different quilts, including the 5 mini quilts, but not limited to completed-in-2019-quilts, were gifted to a hopefully happy recipient.Two or three other quilts should have been given as well, but I'm sort of dragging my heels about those. Not quite ready to give them up just yet. Still having pangs about a couple of the quilts I gave to my daughters!

Some thoughts about looking ahead:

I'm still very invested in keeping lists as per usual. The most important one is for the quilt projects that have been started, but are still in the works. These are ongoing, in many different phases, but most importantly, they have fabric cut out though not yet a completed quilt top. Its not just a fabric stack of dreamy potential! I'm committed, hopefully engaged and generally always pushing forward toward a conclusion. 

There is also a list for the finished quilt tops that are not as yet quilted. Totally separate lists for different categories of UFO's. That's because the 'in progress' quilt project list fluctuates all year long. What I've finally found to be an optimal balance {for the way that I work} is somewhere between 6 to 10 projects. Anything over that and it inevitably starts stressing me out. Anything under that and I start feeling incredibly bored. Good incentive to cross projects off the list and then promptly dive right into the new!

The 'finished quilt top' list has been slowly shrinking from a high of 28 several years ago, to this past year where I seem to have regressed. These tops are listed in order of when they were completed with a vague idea toward quilting the oldest one firsts. Ha. For now I'm going to ignore the fact that quilt tops are multiplying like rabbits and just keep on doing my thing. I really don't know what else to do.I tried severely limiting quilt starts, but that was stifling. There's only so much a person can do to put the breaks on creativity/new starts/inspiration before all momentum comes screeching to a halt. Some day maybe I'll be able to afford having a few tops long armed again, but what probably needs to happen is for me to work a little harder at {being open to} combining machine and hand quilting. That's where I seem to gain the most ground.

Last year saw me taking an even more intentional look at the fabric stash. Many of you know that I truly love digging deep and coming up with interesting or unexpected combinations of fabrics and colors. I'm super pleased to have a 20-30 plus year range of quilting fabric colors/prints, but to be frank, some of those fabrics are stale dated now. Over time there are fabrics which have somehow become bland or completely and totally uninspiring. It's kind of sad, but mostly it irritates me because every single time I've tried to earnestly address these dated 'colors', the ideas crash and burn. The quilting plan seems lackluster and pointless so I give up.

On a whim late last year, I tore through the green fabric totes and pulled out most of the worst offenders. Some of them really aren't that bad. Truly. They're just dated. They've sort of gotten lost in the trends of colors changing. Marketing.That sort of thing. When digging through for fabric choices, they are easily pushed aside and ignored because they don't always play nice with the new additions and then, of course, the situation compounds itself through time. Take a look at the Sherwin-Williams 'Color Through the Decades' to see what I mean. I'm totally stuck in the 70's, 80's, 90's and 2000's in regards to over half of the fabric stash! What to do?

At somewhat of a loss, I took these annoying {green} fabrics and put them in largish clear plastic bags and purposefully left it all out where I couldn't fail to look. See. Be reminded and think about solutions. Eventually I came up with a personal challenge that involves using these 'So Tired' fabrics. The first phase of that saw me making a really weird {okay, it's ugly}, purple and green comfort sort of quilt top, and since then, I've incorporated quite a few of these less-loved fabrics into the Christmas quilts. Other than the first quilt {totally an experiment}, I don't really intend to waste a lot of time making ugly quilts though. Finding a good place for them is the ultimate goal. That and using them up so they aren't in the way anymore!

The most awful of all these fabrics have already been sewn into a large quilt backing for one of the recent Christmas quilts. Extra time, but hey, the fabrics were put to good use and I save money on a backing. One way or another, I totally intend to sneak these troublesome colors/fabrics into quilts and find a way to love them again. Maximize their potential. Then I'm going to move on to a different color and start all over again. Yes! Loving this challenge so much. Look for the 'So-Tired' label at the bottom of  posts moving forward. This challenge could last for a long time.

If somehow the hours can be found, {crossing my fingers}, I plan to put together a 'Hand Quilting with Perle Cotton' tutorial this year. Yikes. So intimidating. Several people have inquired and seem to want to know how to get the 'Quilty Folk' look and feel to their quilts. Deep thoughts here. Please don't get in a rush expecting anything. My life is full of crazy ups and downs and I often barely have time to proofread current posts for misspelling, much less organize an intelligible tutorial.

Yay. This is also the year when I will be turning 50 years young. See how excited I am? Just loving the gaining-weight-at-warp speed and experiencing my lack of mind/mouth coherence due primarily to hormones. How is it that I'm thinking a specific name in my mind, but what comes out is totally different and sometimes I don't even realize?*sigh  My kids think this is hysterical and I just feel stupid. This has turned my thoughts to perhaps making a celebratory quilt such as Lori and Barb both did in years past? Why not make turning 50 into a good thing? I want to walk more and take better care of myself for sure. Will keeping thinking about Jubilee quilt ideas though. It's not a terrible idea.

And last but not least, I plan to keeping on making interpretations of antique, utility style quilts and also, continue to follow along with the AHIQ prompts. Both of these challenges, while difficult at times, seem to feed my creativity in a way that helps me to flourish as a quilter. As a maker. Very important during this particular phase of our life! Thanks so much for following along with me along the way. It wouldn't be nearly as much fun without you....

Giving Up On Perfection

This past week has been a busy, busy week for sandwiching and pinning quilts. First, I sewed together three 'frankenbats' out of leftover strips of batting. All because the roll of batting is getting very skinny and also perhaps in an effort to be frugal? Whatever. I have very mixed emotions about the results.

The Baby Girl Quilt

On the baby girl quilt, I didn't notice the batting shifting at all. All the wonk in this quilt is because there was just too much ease in the long coin strips. It was something I was quite prepared to deal with and after machine quilting 'in the ditch' along every seam, I came back and hand quilted every other coin and just inside the silhouette flower. I'm satisfied with the results. Just the normal 'I'm sure I could do better, but not terrible either'.

Looking at the applique

The narrow coin strips were the leftovers from my Dried Flowers quilt. I really like the way they add just a little bit of texture to an otherwise plain Jane quilt. The flower was originally going to be a dark charcoal color, but at the last second, I switched the fabric out for this {happier} green grunge fabric. It's a little bit more 'St. Patrick's' than I intended to happen, but overall, it feels like such a sweet quilt. Fingers crossed the mama likes it too! The light gray alphabet fabric on the back and the darker gray polka dot binding fabric were all chosen in an effort to make the quilt feel a bit more modern looking. Not sure how successful I was, but my girls both gave the nod of approval.

Patchwork Triangles is finished!

Anymore, I have a habit of sandwiching and pinning two quilts on the same day. If the dining room table is out of the way, that's my cue to take advantage! I chose a quick finish, Patchwork Triangles, which was started in July of 2018. Somewhere around that time these triangles were cut off from the corners of some improv. blocks I was working with. It seemed fun and interesting to see where this small start could take me and I love how different looking this quilt is than the original make. 

Not my best work...

So... that being said, I don't love how terrible my machine quilting ended up turning out. Three major no no's contributed and I take full responsibility. 1. Too many bias cut triangles. 2. Batting not fitted and sewn together quite as snug and tight as it should have been. 3. Quilt sandwich not pinned nearly good enough. 4. I rushed through the machine quilting. Oh, did I say three things? Well, I so dislike machine quilting that I generally make things worse on myself. My bad.

Still happy the colors though!

You probably find this hard to believe, but I did actually get the seam ripper out and unsew almost five different rows before trying again.*ughh  It's a bad job and yes, rather than toss the entire quilt, I just gritted my teeth and finished up. There will be someone who will like {and probably want} the quilt regardless. I'm calling it a comfort quilt and as such will be perfectly adequate. Will try harder next time I promise.

Great fabrics for the back of a quilt....

Maybe some of you wouldn't have posted about such a quilt, but I do always try to show the good, bad and even the ugly around here. There is this one gal whom I have followed for ages now, though I won't tell you who she is. I absolutely adore how she posts pictures of. Every. Single. Miserable. Looking. Quilt block and/or quilt. She ever makes. It's endlessly fascinating and sorta sweet and endearing. Makes me love her ever so much more. You know why? Because she is genuinely human and not afraid to show the world that she loves her craft regardless of her shortcomings.

I'm sure someone will want this one in spite of the imperfections...

So there you go. That's my quilt round-up for the week. I have one more frankenbat left, but that quilt will be hand quilted so I sorta expect it to turn out fabulous. Hand quilting is usually nicely accommodating like that.  I've never had any trouble whatsoever with pieced battings {while hand quilting} except for the areas where the batting is thicker. So my fingers get a little extra bit of a workout. That's about all that seems different except maybe {occasionally} the stitches being a tiny bit shorter looking on the backside of the quilt in those specific places? What about you? Are there certain things that you've pretty much given up on ideal of *perfection* in your journey of quilting too?

6and6in2018 is Getting a Few Results!

The 6and6in2018 for July crept up on me pretty fast. I've been working on my oldest quilt top off an on, trying to get it finished up for this particular linkup. It was part of a series started a very long time ago and one that ended up being monstrously large. So big {105" x 107"} that I never wanted to actually quilt it myself. Do you blame me? What was I thinking?

9-Patch Building Blocks is a finish!

For awhile I planned on having it professionally quilted and then decided it wasn't worth spending that kind of money on. I tentatively decided to hand quilt it and even had a grand stitching plan, special piece of batting bought and everything. Meh.  Still not feeling it and quite honestly, almost gave the quilt top away to a group of ladies I know who make a quilt every year for a fundraiser.

What was holding me back was all the hand work along the edge. That applique border took me forever and was something I felt pretty proud of at the time. It felt so creative!  In hindsight I wish it could have been completed fairly quickly so it could have been one of those celebratory finishes we all love so much. All's well that ends well though as my youngest son really admires the size and simplicity of the design. Yay! It's only been a year and a half since he got a new quilt, but if he likes this one, then I'm a whole year ahead of the gifting-a-quilt-for-graduation thing that I do. Bonus!

It's a big one...

Oh yeah, the details. I finally broken down and decided to sandwich and pin this quilt for machine quilting on my Bernina 740. It has a larger harp than my old machine {the backup these days}, so it seemed doable, at least in abstract. Lets just say that I will probably never, EVER do that again. The machine handled it just fine, no problems there, but the sandwiching, pinning and marking took forever and many more days. Ughh....  Not fun at all.

I used an orange/gold Aurifil thread for stitching and various pieces of green fabrics {pulled from deep down in the stash totes} to make a scrappy binding. It's all done now and washed up in a very loose, drapey feel that my son will love. After he popped a bunch of quilting threads on the last quilt {pushing his feet into it and stretching out like the total dork that he is}, I have given him the big fat lecture on how to properly treat a quilt: Feel free to use it, maul it, snuggle up in and generally wrap up and/or drool on. Wipe your Cheeto fingers on it if you must! but please, please stop with the gross mistreatment!

The basket is my favorite part

And no it wasn't old, sun faded thread or anything like that. It took awhile and much pondering and panicking about other quilts that I've gifted. Would people tell me if their quilts are coming apart at the seams? We finally narrowed it down to the problem child though.*whew! I take care of my threads and don't use garbage for machine quilting so that's that. This new quilt will be a great test quilt to see if he's learned anything or actually even heard a word that his mom said. Hmm... How does this even happen to a quilter? Not sure I'd place any money on this particular bet though and you can be sure he won't be getting a very impressive quilt anytime soon.....

Patchwork Triangles a new quilt top!

The quilt top for Patchwork Triangles is done now too. It was on the 6in6in2018 list as well. Just cut-off triangles in the beginning, but they certainly shaped up into a fun looking quilt top! So glad I challenged myself with these as I always get such a charge out of figuring out something to do with the orphaned bits and pieces. The sharp yellow solid fabric was bought at a quilt show last year just because I couldn't resist. Love seeing it end up in something like this! The top ended up being 62 1/2" x 68 1/2", so a nice sized lap quilt that could be a sweet gift for one of our extended family members some day. Loving the slightly vintage looking vibe of it all and feeling more determined than ever to keep playing with the castoffs.

A good border works wonders

And you've already seen the quilt top pics for the HaHa quilt. So glad that one is finished up and out of my hair for now. I knew it had to be on this list to receive any more attention this year, and yep, that's exactly what happened. I'd look at the list and start to feel guilt pains if I kept pushing it aside. It's so interesting that with some quilts we can't hardly make ourselves quit working on them and others? Wow! Such a slog. Never seriously want to get busy with them, although that doesn't mean we don't like them just as much in the end!

HaHa quilt checked off the list too

I haven't been keeping very good track of new quilts as this list has been more valuable for keeping me on task for finishing. There is never a problem with wanting to start new quilts around here so not gonna worry about that for now!

Washington cherries are the best

My cousin unexpectedly dropped off three boxes of cherries this afternoon. After making a few phone calls and unloading two of them {they needed immediate attention}, I decided to freeze the rest. It doesn't take much time, just have to wash them, pick all the stems off and toss the bad cherries. They don't even have to be totally dry before putting them in freezer Ziplocs and then later in the year they are a great snack for the {bottomless stomach}, youngest son. We ate frozen cherries like candy when we were kids. Junk food? That was for summer picnics and vacation. Linking up with Meredithe and Anne for 6and6in2018-July!

Organizing the Hand Work Bag

I know it's usually Adhoc. Improv. time of the month, but life has been hectic with a capitol H. We watched our granddaughter for a couple days, there's been family come into town to swoon over the new niece, we have a couple older uncles who are in failing health, a visiting sibling has been needing some hand holding, someone skipped out on their church cleaning duties, and all the other bits and bobs that make life such a fascinating experience to deal with as well.

Off On a Tangent prep

Improv. has been shuttled to the back burner for now. It's just that simple. Tho I did take it out and give the current progress a quick perusal and a promise of more love in the future. It seems that for the time being, I've been grabbing hand work or settling in for some hand quilting 'therapy' time. I've been craving that quiet time. Wrapping it around me and taking deep breaths. And you know what? Slowing down with something, anything! almost always makes for a few peaceful and serene moments, even in the midst of a 'storm'.

Patchwork Triangles border prep

Now my husband tells me that we need to take a quick jaunt down to Oregon to visit some other family member who time seems to be running out. Ahh... the joys of being part of a large family--on both of our parts! So many highs and lows. Instead of the grab and go method I've been making do with in regards to the hand work, I decided today to put off the packing/getting ready to go and better organize my hand work bag. Not sure how many days we'll be gone so we are literally talking about sanity here...

Melon Patch spears getting absolutely nothing done to them...

Right? Okay, don't answer that! For the most part it was just a matter of making sure ALL the parts and pieces were safely tucked into ziploc bags, organized per project and arranged nicely inside the traveling bag. Did I pack the appropriate color of thread? Check! Extra needles? Check! Snips & scissors? Check! Small ziploc for throw-away end pieces of thread? Check! Pin cushion with little applique pins? Check!

Dried Flowers moving right along....

One of my latest 'squirrel's found its way into the bag as well. Such a surprise. I've been calling this one 'Dried Flowers' just because it has such a dull but sweet, washed out sort of look. The circles are all pieces that have been cut out from behind other applique through the years and now I just stacked them up together. Very little trimming as I love the rustic look. My thinking is they will make very nice looking flowers if I can figure out how to add on another something that will have a pieced and/or perhaps even appliqued stem and leaf section. Decisions, decisions....

Dried Flowers fabric stacks and possible additions to quilt

Maybe I'll add the leftover basket blocks too? Whatever. The layout is still a ways off!  It's been a deliciously 'quiet' project to stitch on and one I have been soaking up! Something has been niggling in the back of my brain though when I have been working on these blocks. Maybe it's too quiet? Perhaps it might prefer a little spark of color? And so today I caved {just like I did when I bought those berry strudels yesterday} and dug around for some salmon/orange colored fabrics to add one more smaller circle on top. Hhmmm... We might be on to something here!

A little progress with the spiky blocks...

I also finished cutting out the spikes for these primitive looking New York Beauty blocks--all going to be sewn on with applique stitching. When I get the 'spikes' sewn on, then I will free cut some gold arcs to cover up the stitching at the edge of the quarter circle. These cream pieces are all cut-offs from an old project that I just couldn't bear to throw away and I've been making up this current block as I go along. Love the colors but am a little antsy about how they will look when they're done. Might need to trim the spikes to different widths to incorporate a little more imperfection.

Fabric Swatches 'cuz we always need more fabric...

And because I was definitely lollygagging and putting off that getting-ready-to-leave-town business, I went ahead and looked through all my current stacks of fabric resting on the counters or hiding away and marinating in little totes. Ouch! There are 12 stacks of fabric in total!! Wowsers, that's a lot for me. Some have been simmering for almost two years and so really, they need to have decisions made, be moving forward, or be dumped back into the stash totes pronto. No time for that today, but I did get little swatches of need-to-match {or blend} fabric ready for the chance/opportunity of wandering into an out of town quilt store. Wouldn't that be fun? Love, love doing that and my husband is a sweetheart to stop if we ever have a spare moment.

Now I'd better go finish up the laundry and check on the ripe peaches that need to be cut up and frozen before leaving town. I'm pretty sure nobody else will take care of them while we're gone! Thankfully there's not a lot of them as someone {not naming any names}, has been making peach smoothies lately.... Oh my, was I looking forward to a quiet weekend! Oh well. I'm sure we'll get one soon enough whether we plan it or not...

Using Up the Leftovers Any Way I Can!

Tried all day to get a post in and it was just too busy around here. My daughter tells me that it's pointless to blog on Wednesday or Friday, that nobody will read the posts! Oh well. Just keeping up with the flow of creativity around here.

Auditioning the borders....

First of all, I wasn't satisfied with a simple red border for the abandoned 'Patchwork Triangles' quilt after all. Oh no, Must do something more complicated. I figured out all the measurements and then drew out a basic sawtooth border attachment.

Cutting the sawtooth borders before applique

Not really all that simple and basic when you consider that it probably took me almost two hours start to finish just getting ready for stitching. But still. I love the process. That's what makes the time fly by. And I've done these sorts of borders so often now, the most time consuming part of the process is the measuring, measuring, measuring. And then drawing and/or adjusting all the lines before it's time to iron the freezer paper onto the border length. It doesn't feel hard anymore though, and that makes all the difference in the world.

Looking at these circles for possible applique....

And then once I laid out the borders next to the quilt, I didn't like them. Uggh.. I just sighed in exasperation and stared. How does this happen? It took a little creative thinking, but finally it occurred to me to flip the borders upside down. Oh yeah. Much better with the red on the outside of the quilt! Why didn't I 'see' that initially, before I went to all the time and trouble?

Moving the yellow to the inside changed things. For one thing, it helped keep the vertical look going instead of boxing it in. Yep, good thing. But now I saw an area that was crying out for applique. Because of course that's the way my brain thinks. A sawtooth border without added circles or flowers or something is very rare around here. It's insane how my mind goes straight there and will not be budged until convinced it might be detrimental to the quilt!

So to the parts and pieces applique tote I went, looking for something left behind by another project. Luckily I found these fussy cut circles in the perfect colors. So much better than what I had imagined in my head! Loving how this seems to soften the almost busy, 'circus' feel to this quilt and downgrades that boldness to a much more vintage looking vibe. And I never even thought for one moment about fussy cut circles before coming upon these! Yay for the parts and pieces totes!

Off On a Tangent

This 'Off On a Tangent' quilt top had been shaping up rather quickly too. If you remember, the triangles were leftover from the HaHa quilt and seemed too good to toss aside forever. For right now the borders on the top and bottom of the quilt are not sewn on. It's hard to tell from these pictures, but all the cream fabrics are text prints too. It was something that really made me smile when I was contemplating how to put together this particular border.

Should look better with some more color added on!

And I love how it looks close up. The problem is, any real distance and the text prints read 'gray' and tend to dull the quilt down to a rather disappointing degree. Meh!  Every single time I think something is going to be whipped up super fast, my quilts talk back and tell me, 'Nope, not today!' Okay. Fine then. After a couple days contemplating possible easy fixes {without scrapping the border altogether}, I've decided to add words to the top and bottom. There have been a couple options running through my head including song lyrics or maybe even a humorous phrase. {My fave is 'Good quilts don't have to match the couch!', but Ultimately I settled on the phrase 'It is well with my soul', which I'm planning to cut out in various green fabrics. The letters have already been freehand drawn {my go-to method} in an appropriate size, cut out, and ready to trace onto those fabrics.

It's funny how we can be playing with a project and then from out of the blue, it seems like the quilt has suddenly become someone else's quilt. What? When? But that's exactly what has happened here, thus the more thoughtful wording. It just needs to be. There is this friend whom I've contemplated gifting a quilt to for quite awhile {for various and assorted reasons} and it just seems to be the right time. How ironic and actually kinda wonderful, that this random, just-wanna-play-type-of-quilt, has quietly morphed into something that now, speaks to me of her! So yeah, it totally makes sense to just go with that and not fight against. Make it even more her if that's even possible!

On a different note, this week makes for 8 years of quilty blogging! Wowsers!  I've almost given up on this blog several times throughout the years, but there's just something about journaling the quilting experience that helps to connect all the dots. I honestly feel that it's made for better quilts along the way. And it doesn't take long reading through my posts, to understand that I am a process quilter through and through. In some ways {much as I hate to admit it}, that part is as much or more fun than the finished product! Too, blogging is a great way to share my story with like-minded people and maybe encourage others along the way? This was the very first line, of my very first post, on Quilty Folk:  'It's boring to talk quilts with the uninterested, tacky to talk to yourself, and I'm too old for an imaginary friend.' Hhmmm... I'm thinking that all still holds true today.....